Starting 1st April 2018, 108,000 households and 9,500 business in Jurong will get the chance to choose an electricity retailer that best suits their needs.

Average electricity usage has a declining trend since last year.

There are a total of 12 players and 3 most distinct types of price plans available.

New players in the residential market, SingNet, Union Power and Environmental Solutions have yet to release their plans.

For Fixed Price Plan:Best Electricity is the cheapest for 6 months.Sembcorp Power and Keppel Electric is the cheapest for a 1-year contract.Geneco is the cheapest for a 2-year contract.Tuas Power is the only one with a 3-years contract plan.Ohm Electricity has a No Contract Plan for this category.

For Discount Off Tariff Plan:Geneco has the cheapest 6 months contract plan.
Ohm Electricity is the cheapest when it comes to 1-year contract.Sembcorp Power is the cheapest for a 2 years contract.

For peak and off-peak plans:PacificLight has the cheapest peak hours usage rate.Geneco and Keppel Electricity are the cheapest for off-peak rates.

3 Tips on choosing the best electricity plan!

Always download the factsheet of the plans you are considering from the retailer’s website. (Look out for the fine print!)

Market Administration and Power System Operation Fee – 0.05 cents/kWhPaid to Energy Company and Power System Operator. Reviewed annually.

Market Support Services Fee (MSS) – 0.40 cents/kWhReviewed annually.

Network Cost – 5.31 cents/kWhReviewed annually.

Energy Cost – 18.37 cents/kWhReviewed quarterly.

The sum of the 4 components makes up your Electricity Tariff, which will be what the consumer pays for their monthly electricity bill.

Average Electricity Consumption And Electricity Bill Of Singaporeans

To give a good judgment on how the new scheme of using private electricity retailers will affect our electricity bills, we went on to find out on average, how much Singaporeans spend on electricity.

First, we find out the amount of electricity an average Singaporean consumes:

Property Type

Average Electricity Consumption (kWh)

HDB 1-Room

134.5

HDB 2-Room

182.64

HDB 3-Room

271.09

HDB 4-Room

366.75

HDB 5-Room

425.06

HDB Executive

520.36

Apartment

516.8

Terrace

896.96

Semi-Detached

1168.55

Bungalow

2346.08

Credit: SP Group

Now that we have a good estimation of how much electricity (in kWh) is being consumed for each property type, we went on to give an estimation of the cost (inclusive of GST):

Property Type

Average Electricity Consumption per month(kWh)

Average Cost of Electricity per month

HDB 1-Room

134.5

S$32.45

HDB 2-Room

182.64

S$44.07

HDB 3-Room

271.09

S$65.41

HDB 4-Room

366.75

S$88.50

HDB 5-Room

425.06

S$102.57

HDB Executive

520.36

S$125.56

Apartment

516.8

S$124.70

Terrace

896.96

S$214.02

Semi-Detached

1168.55

S$281.97

Bungalow

2346.08

S$566.11

Open Electricity Market in Singapore

As of 1st April 2018, households and businesses in Jurong will have the option to purchase electricity from a retailer. This reduces the reliant on SP group (SP Services) for electricity, where cost is based on a regulated tariff that changes every quarter.

By 1 November 2018, Open Electricity Market will launch this initiative across the whole of Singapore.

12 electricity retailers are authorised at the moment with some of their

Best Electricity Supply

Environmental Solutions (Asia) Pte Ltd

iSwitch

Keppel Electric

Ohm Energy

PacificLight Energy

Sembcorp Power

Senoko Energy Supply

Geneco by Seraya Energy

SingNet Pte Ltd

Tuas Power Supply

Union Power Ptd Ltd

To make comparison easier for everyone, we are going to focus on what matters the most, residential plans.

Residential plans offered by electricity retailers

Brushing away all the marketing gimmick and getting down to business, most electricity retailer has 3 main types of plan for the Singaporeans.

Assuming peak period is defined as the time where most Singaporeans are at home. Hence, if you have working hours which are away from the norm, this might be the plan for you given that your electricity usage will be during off-peak.

We see less company is having the Peak and off-peak plans mainly due to possible extra meter needed to be fixed at the household to monitor the electrical activity.

Company

Peak and off-peak plans

Peak

Off Peak

PacificLight

$0.1807/kWh
or
16% off tariff
(7am to 11pm)

$0.1667/kWh
or
26% off tariff
(11pm to 7am)

Keppel Electric

$0.1880/kWh
(7am to 11pm)

$0.1538/kWh
(11pm to 7am)

Geneco

5% off Tariff
(6am – 12am)

53% off Tariff
(12am-6am)

Sembcorp Power

$0.2/kWh
(7am – 7pm)

$0.2365/kWh
(7pm – 7am)

Tuas Power

$0.202/kWh
(7am to 6.59pm)

$0.19/kWh
(7pm to 6.59am)

iSwitch

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Best Electricity

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Senoko Energy

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Ohm Electricity

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

SingNet

Have yet to release price plan

Union Power

Have yet to release price plan

Environmental Solution

Have yet to release price plan

PacificLight offers the cheapest price when it comes to peak hours usage.

Geneco, on the other hand, is cheapest for off-peak with a 53% off tariff.

For fixed price, Keppel Electricity is the cheapest for off-peak

Should a consumer chooses to go with Peak and Off-peak plan, installing a smart meter is necessary to track your electricity consumption every half an hour.

The meter installation fee costs $40 (before GST).

Further Reading:

Transmission Loss Factors (TLF)

Scaling factors that are already applied at the metering point to account for network and transformer losses.

Residential customers fall under the 230.400V category when it comes to TLF

SP Group should have already adjusted this to derive the usage of consumers, hence, private retailers will simply take the information from SP Group and bill accordingly.